Major update to the alternative web browser, with faster startup, hardware acceleration and 64-bit support

The days when major browser updates were few and far between are over. Nowadays, it’s de rigeur for browser manufacturers to speed up development, which means opening up less stable builds to the masses in order to get them bug-checked as quickly as possible.

It may only enjoy a fraction of the market share afforded to rival web browsers, but Opera is by no means a poor relation to the likes of Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer. In many ways it’s been a pioneer – Opera was the first major browser to use tabs and provide a speed dial for its home page, and it has always been one of the quickest browsers out there thanks to a lightweight footprint, something its rivals are only now starting to embrace. Another unique feature is a built-in mail client enabling you to combine browsing and email in one application.

Opera isn’t afraid to utilise the best bits of other browsers either – version 11 saw the debut of a slimmed down user interface pioneered by Chrome and also copied by IE9 and Firefox 4. It also brought third-party extensions to the table for the first time, along with a handy bookmarks bar.

But if Opera is to maintain its image as a true web pioneer, it can’t afford to sit still.

Note that this is the 64-bit version of the legacy Opera 12.

Verdict:

Opera 12 is faster than ever and it's good to see that the developers spend time creating a worthy upgrade, rather than scheduling minor updates every 6 weeks, like their competitors.

Since there is no complete changelog available, we have no idea exactly what was changed.

What I know, and has been confirmed on the Desktop Team blog, is that something has messed up the ability to use the 64-bit version of this to access Hotmail and GMail accounts. The screen sits blank when the address is selected.

This looks to be more code from the current programming team which is released not fully debugged, and far too hastily.

Fortunately, if you have a copy of 12.15 to go back to, all will once again be well.

www.downloadcrew.com reply:

Marc, we've added the changelog information to the article (when we added the 12.16 update) - you can see above! One change.

Spotlight: Free Full Software

WhatsApp Messenger is the world's most popular instant messaging app for smartphones.

You can use it to send and receive text and voice messages, photos, videos, even call your friends in other countries, and because it uses your phone's internet connection it might not cost you anything at all (depending on whether you'll pay data charges).

It's easy to set up and use. There's no need to create and remember new account names or pins because it works with your phone number, and uses your regular address book to find and connect you with friends who use WhatsApp already.

You can talk one-to-one or in group chats, and because you're always logged in there's no way to miss messages. Even if your phone is turned off, WhatsApp will save your messages and display them as soon as you're back online.

There's plenty more (location sharing, contact exchange, message broadcasting) and the app is free for a year, currently $0.99/ year afterwards.